Skip to main content
Quantum information scientists at ORNL hope to harness beams of light, or photons, as qubits for quantum networking. Credit: ORNL/Carlos Jones

ORNL’s next major computing achievement could open a new universe of scientific possibilities accelerated by the primal forces at the heart of matter and energy.

Researchers found that moderate levels of ash — sometimes found as spheres in biomass — do not significantly affect the mechanical properties of biocomposites made up of corn stover, switchgrass and PLA thermoplastic. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

The presence of minerals called ash in plants makes little difference to the fitness of new naturally derived compound materials designed for additive manufacturing, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory-led team found.

When an electron beam drills holes in heated graphene, single-atom vacancies, shown in purple, diffuse until they join with other vacancies to form stationary structures and chains, shown in blue. Credit: Ondrej Dyck/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers serendipitously discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up.

Researchers at ORNL designed a recyclable carbon fiber material to promote low-carbon manufacturing. Credit: Chad Malone/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists designed a recyclable polymer for carbon-fiber composites to enable circular manufacturing of parts that boost energy efficiency in automotive, wind power and aerospace applications.

ORNL will use its land surface modeling tools to determine Baltimore’s climate risk and analyze green infrastructure improvements that can help mitigate impacts on underserved communities as part of a DOE Urban Integrated Field Laboratory project. Source: Google Earth, accessed Sept. 12, 2022

ORNL researchers are deploying their broad expertise in climate data and modeling to create science-based mitigation strategies for cities stressed by climate change as part of two U.S. Department of Energy Urban Integrated Field Laboratory projects.

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed an adsorbent material to rapidly remove toxic chromium and arsenic simultaneously from water resources. Credit: Adam Malin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Researchers at ORNL are tackling a global water challenge with a unique material designed to target not one, but two toxic, heavy metal pollutants for simultaneous removal.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers used an invertible neural network, a type of artificial intelligence that mimics the human brain, to select the most suitable materials for desired properties, such as flexibility or heat resistance, with high chemical accuracy. The study could lead to more customizable materials design for industry.

A study led by researchers at ORNL could help make materials design as customizable as point-and-click.

This image illustrates lattice distortion, strain, and ion distribution in metal halide perovskites, which can be induced by external stimuli such as light and heat. Image credit: Stephen Jesse/ORNL

A study by researchers at the ORNL takes a fresh look at what could become the first step toward a new generation of solar batteries.

QLAN submit - A team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Stanford University and Purdue University developed and demonstrated a novel, fully functional quantum local area network, or QLAN, to enable real-time adjustments to information shared with geographically isolated systems at ORNL using entangled photons passing through optical fiber. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A rapidly emerging consensus in the scientific community predicts the future will be defined by humanity’s ability to exploit the laws of quantum mechanics.

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model project reliably simulates aspects of earth system variability and projects decadal changes that will critically impact the U.S. energy sector in the future. A new version of the model delivers twice the performance of its predecessor. Credit: E3SM, Dept. of Energy

A new version of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM, is two times faster than an earlier version released in 2018.